Gilded Cage: Ginny's Story
by chuffed4angst
Summary: In a war torn world, Ginny convinces Harry that she will be no safer at home than out helping the Trio defeat Voldemort. What happens when Harry's worst fears come true? Rated for language and themes.
1. Prologue

Gilded Cage

Disclaimer: None of this is mine. No profit is being made. Story is intended to be a non-infringing fair use of JKR's original (and brilliant) characters and magical universe.

Prologue

A few hours before dawn, the sliver of a new moon set beyond the forest, leaving the open moor in nearly blinding darkness.

With a whisper of displaced evening breeze, three cloaked figures materialized in the shadow of an old ruined embankment. Crouching low to the side of the hill with their wands drawn, the three waited silently until it was apparent that their appearance had gone unnoticed.

Two of the figures crept 20 meters or so down either side of the embankment to check for guards along the crumbling wall at the top of the hill. Returning quickly to the central figure, they indicated that the area was clear.

The central figure muttered a string of Latin that caused the security wards surrounding the embankment to glow for an instant, showing a complicated web of multicolored threads representing the various spells woven into the wards.

After a moment's contemplation, the central figure pulled two potion vials from her cloak. She trailed a drizzle of the first potion along the base of the wards and dipped her wand into the second potion before drawing a series of runes in the air while murmuring more Latin phrases. As the glowing runes melted away, an archway blinked faintly into existence to allow passage through the wards.

"20 minutes. No more," hissed the caster of the archway. The others nodded as they slipped through the wards and up the hill.

Finding an even darker nook in the old stone wall, the two climbed and vaulted the wall, finding themselves in the overgrown ruins of a derelict Roman fortification. Walking confidently to the southeast corner, one cast a wordless spell that caused the ground to open, revealing stone steps leading downward.

Following the path of a memorized map, the two silently descended and then made their way through twisting passages. They slowed when they reached the glow of torch light. Peering around the next corner, a Death Eater guard was discovered and disposed of with silent spells to cause coma and binding. Two more guards were similarly dispatched before the cloaked figures reached their destination.

The third guard had been stationed before the door to a windowless cell. The door opened to the twitch of a wand and one entered while the other stood sentry.

Inside the cell, the figure approached a loose pile of robes and knelt down to gently check the hidden body for signs of life. Finding a faint pulse, the figure let out a sigh of relief and scooped up the limp body.

They retreated swiftly back the path that had brought them to the cell, hesitating only when they heard the sounds of spell casting as they were about to emerge back up to the surface. The one rearranged the feather light body he carried to his left shoulder so that he held his wand at battle ready.

At the top of the steps, an ongoing battle came into view. Three Death Eaters were sprawled in various positions where they had fallen. At that moment, a fourth Death Eater landed a strong magenta hex upon their ally, who shrieked and staggered backwards before falling.

Both of the returning cloaked figures hit the fourth Death Eater with a combination of hexes that had the effect of throwing him against a nearby boulder, freezing him, binding him and placing him in a coma.

After the unburdened figure scooped up his ally, the two disapparated, each with an unconscious body in his arms.

TBC


	2. Chapter 1 Safe House

Safe House

A tall, burly seaman escorted a frail old woman up a dirt road in Figueira Da Foz, Portugal. It had been a long walk from the port and the old woman leaned heavily on the seaman's arm. The seaman pointed to a dilapidated shack nearly hidden behind overgrown bushes and weeds. The old woman nodded and sped her limping pace slightly with her destination now in sight.

Once inside the shack, the old woman sank immediately into the comfort of an overstuffed easy chair. Looking up blearily at her friend, she asked, "Tonks, are you sure this is going to work?"

"As sure as I can be," said Tonks as she morphed back to her proper self, complete with violet hair, ripped t-shirt and belly ring.

Seeing Ginny's exhaustion, Tonks made the decision that she should take more time than she had planned, even though it would make her portkey connections a tight squeeze. "You rest for a bit, luv. I'll go tidy up and make us some tea."

Ginny closed her eyes and was asleep before Tonks reached the kitchen. She was so tired that she slept soundly through the uncomfortable reversion to her natural form as the polyjuice wore off.

An hour later, Tonks shook Ginny's shoulder. "Time to wake up. Here's your tea on the table."

Tonks watched patiently as Ginny woke and stretched. After they were both sitting comfortably with their tea, Tonks said, "Good to see you back to your real self. How are you feeling, Gin?"

"_Just_ brilliant, thanks. You?"

"Don't get pissy with me Missy. Your bones may be healed, but your bruises most certainly are not. And the Healers wanted to keep you for days due to your magical exhaustion. I suppose it is a bit stupid of me to ask, though. Here are a pain potion and a pepper upper. I'll give you a mo' and then we really do need to go over things before I leave."

Ginny took a few slow breaths after having downed her potions. Shaking her head slightly, she said sheepishly, "Sorry. I shouldn't take it out on you. You've been great. It's just been a long day. Long year..."

"I know, luv. No worries," said Tonks brightly. "Drink up now and then we'll have a tour."

Ginny smiled her thanks at her friend's understanding and drank her tea. Once her tea was done, she sat up and faced Tonks. "Right. Well then. What do I need to know?"

Tonks scrunched up her face in concentration and began ticking facts off on her fingers. "Let's see... Like you saw on our way in here, this cottage looks like a boarded up shack and has been empty for years as far as the muggles are concerned. I've made it impenetrable, unplottable and undetectable from magical scans. You must stay inside the cottage, because crossing the wards will trigger a traceable magical event."

"Because they put that tracer curse on you when you were first captive -- and because they have found you so many times since -- We know the Death Eaters can trace any use of your magic, including your use of owls, apparition, floo and port keys, so they are all off limits to you. I hate the thought of you being out of contact with us all, but it really is necessary after all of the times they have found you. I can't see any way to direct personal communications to you, but I was able to arrange for delivery of the Sunday Prophet through a wizarding service in Lisbon. I know its not much, but its the best I could do."

Ginny nodded silently, swiping at an escaped tear.

"Because they can trace your magical signature, I have set this place up to perform its own magic for you while you are here. Let me show you..."

Ginny trailed along silently as Tonks gave a thorough tour of the little cottage. "I know you won't be able to do spells, so I've set the place up with a lot of automatic conveniences. Until I looked into it, I had no idea there was such a huge market for magical service devices. Whether they are meant for lazy wizards or squibs, they sure do come in handy for your purposes. Anyway... starting here in the kitchen, you will find that the cabinets and the cold case are full of ever-replenishing food stuffs and supplies. If you don't feel like cooking, you will love this special cabinet. Just think of something specific when you open up the door and it will be there for you. Here, watch. Hm... I'm thinking we should have a couple of butter beers. And ... here they are."

As they cracked open their butter beers, Ginny forced herself to respond, "Cool. Thanks Tonks."

"Sure. So, moving back out into your living room, these book shelves fill themselves with a never-ending supply of books of every variety. The fireplace has an endless stack of wood and box of matches. Over here is a craft and hobby cabinet that will provide you with whatever you are thinking of by way of distractions. I started you out with some wool and knitting needles, a deck of cards and some puzzles, but whatever you are thinking of will be there when you open it. Same deal with the desk over here. The windows are charmed to show a variety of beautiful weather, and if you open them up will include the noises, smells and even the sensations of breeze which might be experienced through a real window."

Backtracking through the kitchen and into the bedroom, Tonks continued, "The bathroom and bedroom are also set up so that whatever toiletries, medicinal potions and clothes you want will be right there for you. I wasn't able to bring your own clothes, but I tried to give you a good range of stuff. If you don't like it, just put it back in the wardrobe and imagine what you want and it will be there. I wasn't entirely sure about sizes, so the clothes are spelled to adjust to fit perfectly."

"I wasn't able to get many of your own things, but I did manage to snag these photo albums the last time I was at the Burrow." Tonks pulled three tiny photo albums out of her pocket and performed an engorgement charm to return them to their normal size and placed them on Ginny's bed.

"And I brought you a friend," said Tonks as she pulled a miniaturized cat basket out from the inside of her robes. Tapping on the basket once returned the basket to full size. Tapping again awoke its occupant, a sleepily mewing Crookshanks.

Ginny scooped Crookshanks up in her arms. "Thanks Tonks. You really are amazing. You've thought of everything. I hate that its come to this, but..." Ginny choked up and was unable to continue. Tonks engulfed her in a warm embrace.

They stood embracing for a long while. Finally Tonks had to break out of the hug. "Sorry Gin. I really do hate to leave you here, but if I'm going to be able to use the portkey I have set up, I really have to get out of here. Before I go, let me show you the emergency closet."

Tonks showed Ginny the hidden broom cupboard in the kitchen, where a Nimbus 3500, a wallet with gold and various muggle currency, Ginny's wand and a small pot of floo powder were hidden. "I'm the only one who knows exactly where you are. I'll come get you when it is safe. These things are really only here in case I get... can't come get you when its safe. If the Prophet reports Voldemort's death, wait four weeks to make sure it's not a false rumor and then you can use these to return to England."

Ginny nodded silently, blinking madly in an effort not to cry.

After casting a quick tempus charm, Tonks said, "Shite. I really am running behind. You take good care of yourself here Ginny. It won't be too long. Without Voldemort using you as bait to play cat and mouse with Harry, this whole thing will be cleared up soon enough."

With another quick hug, Tonks morphed back into her seaman form and left Ginny alone in her cottage.

In a daze, Ginny sunk down onto the hearth rug and stared into the empty grate.

TBC


	3. Chapter 2 Denial

Gilded Cage: Ginny's Story

Chapter 2 - Denial

Ginny sat staring into the empty grate for hours after Tonks left. This couldn't be happening. It had all happened so quickly that it was entirely surreal.

Ginny's best – and worst – hope was that it was all some sort of bizarre dream brought on by the stress of torture. No. That would mean that she was still captive in Voldemort's torture colony. The better option would be if she were unconscious in St. Muggo's. Perhaps she could wake up to find herself in a sunny hospital room with Harry holding her hand. She knew just how his face would light up when she woke. She knew he would comfort her and that it would all work out well.

Perhaps… yes, perhaps Harry had killed Voldemort during the course of rescuing her from Death Eater Headquarters. He would tell her as soon as she could just wake up from this magical coma. Much encouraged by this prospect, Ginny did not let the stark clarity of her current situation bother her. Magical hallucinations could be quite vivid, after all. So, sitting on the furry hearth rug before the empty grate in her dream cottage, Ginny willed herself to wake up. If this was a magical coma and magic is really all about intent, she would just need to intend to wake up and rejoin the living reality that was waiting for her right outside this dream world.

Ginny believed. She sat up cross legged, closed her eyes and began to concentrate. She reached out with her very soul. Reaching deep within herself, she pulled her magic and balled it up into a solid form that she could send out to Harry, who was certainly sitting right at her bedside. She thought perhaps she could push out her lioness patronus to send Harry a message telling him she wanted to wake up.

Concentrating, wishing, willing, Ginny reached out and thought her message to Harry with all her might. At the peak of her effort, her fingers were stung. "Oh!" she cried as she pulled her hand back. Opening her eyes, she saw a square of parchment appear before her and flutter into her lap.

Reading the parchment, she saw Tonks' familiar loopy print: _Oi! No magic means no wandless magic, too, you daft ninny! Be good. NT._

Staring at the parchment, Ginny knew this was no dream. A strangled sob escaped. Crookshanks walked over and began rubbing against her left side. Pulling the half kneezle into her lap, Ginny found the warm vibrations of the purring cat comforting. That comfort broke her self-control and allowed Ginny to weep.

Her weeping rose to full out, body wracking sobs. Ginny cried for the sorrow of the wizarding world at war. She cried for the lost innocence of her friends and classmates. She cried about the half life she, Harry, Ron and Hermione had been living these past few years. Thinking about the pain, indignity and hopelessness she had endured while she had been Voldemort's captive, she found that the agonizing memories left her too paralyzed to cry out loud. Thinking of her current protective imprisonment, she numbly stopped sobbing.

After her crying jag, Ginny found pajamas, pain potion and fell into her bed. She slept for days, getting up only for the occasional glass of water, dose of potion or trip to the loo.

Once she was driven to seek out food, she only snacked on crackers. Just enough to stave off the worst of her hunger pains. She didn't bother exploring the cottage or making herself comfortable. Instead, she sat in the chair by the front door waiting for Harry to come. Tonks had said it wouldn't take too long, so she waited.

While she was waiting, Ginny went over and over the events that brought her to her current situation, trying to make sense of it.

She thought back to the Spring of 1996 when Harry had first suggested that he needed to leave her safely behind to focus on hunting the horcruxes and, ultimately, Voldemort. She had given Harry some time to think after Dumbledore's funeral and then challenged him at Bill and Fleur's wedding. She had fought him fiercely. If Dumbledore had been right and Harry's power over Voldemort was _love_, how in hell did Harry think leaving the _love of his life_ on the sidelines would be productive? Ginny argued that she was not a piece of delicate property that could be kept safe in a vault. Ginny convinced Harry that their love was an asset and that she should be his help-mate as well as lover. It had made good sense. The trio became a foursome and Ginny had been an essential part of the team. Ginny and Harry's relationship had matured at that point, as had Hermione and Ron's relationship. Despite the dangers of their task, Ginny had been confident that everything would work out just perfectly.

Then the horcrux hunt had gone badly. It started out well enough when they found Hufflepuff's cup in less than a month and had been able to destroy it without significant injury. But they had been unable to find the others. Their search took them to every continent and had them revisiting the most likely locations time and time again. Two years into the hunt, they were ambushed by Death Eaters while searching the site of the former Griffindor estate. Hermione was captured in that ambush and tortured. Before the Order had been able to rescue her, the Death Eaters used Veritaserum on Hermione to discover that Harry's fear that Ginny would be injured. Upon finding out about Harry's worst fear, Voldemort had become intent on torturing him with it, with her.

Ginny remembered being kidnapped on the same day they rescued Hermione. Ginny's only vivid memory from that time was her one terrifying audience with Voldemort. She shockingly brittle feeling of malevolence emanating from Voldemort was quickly eclipsed by pain when he burned a miniature dark mark on the back of her left hand. The pain was excruciating and did not fade quickly. Apparently pleased with her cries of agony, Voldemort ordered his henchmen to take Ginny to a cell where she "should be kept as live bait, but certainly not comfortable." Ginny remembered the next 17 days only as a haze of images she would rather forget. Faceless rapists and tormentors, manacles, whips, fists, cold rough stone floor. Pain and humiliation so great that she began to pray for death.

She did not recall her own rescue. All she remembered was waking to Harry's worried face in the basement safe room at Grimauld Place. St. Mungo's was no longer safe. Hermione had done her best to set up a healing room, but their resources were severely lacking. Hermione had been able to heal her physical wounds, but not able to remove the mark. They determined that the mark served as a magical tracing device that allowed the Death Eaters to trace Ginny's magical signature any time she performed magic. After realizing that Ginny was a target with a homing device on her, everyone had agreed that Ginny should be kept somewhere safe. But even with Ginny abstaining from her own use of magic, the Death Eaters kept finding her safe houses. As the Death Eaters tracked her down by floo, by owl, by apparition, and by port key, each of these links was taken away. Moving to progressively more isolated safe houses, Ginny eventually lost all contact with the outside world. Despite the progressively restrictive safe houses, the Death Eaters continued to track her.

Most recently, she had narrowly escaped when she had been discovered in a muggle high rise apartment building in Cincinnati, Ohio. Incredibly, a Death Eater had posed as the delivery person for a delivery of flowers Harry had sent her for her birthday. Since Harry had used a muggle credit card and ordered the flowers over the internet, the Foursome was at a complete loss about how Voldemort continued to find Ginny.

One thing was clear, however. So long as they continued to play cat and mouse with Voldemort, they were distracted from the horcrux hunt. The only solution seemed to be to totally isolate Ginny and hide her behind the strongest protective wards the Order could manage. Tonks had set the place up while disguised as the little old woman. Then, she had led Ginny on a four-day air, land and water journey through three continents and 22 cities. They had changed disguises and identities 8 times before arriving at the port of Figueira Da Foz.

And so, here she is: 21 years old and living in total isolation in her very own adorable, comfortable prison. If nothing else, Ginny was relatively certain she should be safe. As much as she hated being forced into hiding, she put her faith in the fact that, without constantly rescuing her, the horcruxes would be found and destroyed and Harry would defeat Voldemort once and for all.

Confident in Harry's success, she waited.

TBC


End file.
